by Laura Avery
Why did being so close to him always have this effect on me?
“I love how fucking nervous I make you.” He nuzzled my hair. “Tonight I’m going to ruin you, Emery.” He stuck his hand between my legs and rubbed my center slowly. “Every part of you.”
I groaned and bit down on my lip.
Pierce interrupted the wetness forming between my legs, sliding up next to us and shooting his brother a sharp look. “Jackson, we have a problem.” His voice was low and serious.
“Figure it out, I’m busy,” he commanded, his hand still on my softness.
Pierce shook his head. “Jackson. I need you. Now.”
“Fuck.” Jackson groaned and pulled away from me. “Meet me upstairs in twenty minutes.” He started to follow his brother and then stopped to look at me again. “And Emery?”
I stared back at him. “Yes?”
“Don’t keep me waiting.”
The idea was ironic considering I had been waiting on him my whole life.
Chapter Five
“Red.”
EMERY
*Present
The room was dark when I went in aside from a large white light that was bouncing off the wall in front of me. “Hello?” I called out, looking around rapidly. “Is anyone here?”
Silence greeted me.
Shit, why had I come?
My phone went off in my hand and I jumped.
Unknown number: Press play.
I swung around the room, checking to see if anyone was there with me but just like before I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. I inched closer to the projector in the middle of the room and glanced down at the play button. I reached out with shaky hands, my finger lingering too long while I tried to decide what to do.
It wasn’t too late. I could turn around. I could leave.
But then I would never know.
And it was so close, right here, at the edge of my fingertips, just begging for me to see it. I knew Jackson would disapprove but I couldn’t stop myself, the curiosity was too strong, so I finally pressed play.
And I immediately wished I hadn’t.
Jackson’s father’s face filled the screen. A younger, cleaner cut version of him, but his father just the same. Gone was the charismatic and happy man from the campaign commercials I had seen plastered all over T.V. since I was a kid and in his place was a calculated and cruel shell of a person. “Jackson,” he demanded, his tone sharp. “Get over here.”
I could hear a whimpering in the corner as the camera flashed to a younger Jackson, crouched down in the corner. He shook his head, hugging his knees to his chest. He must have been no older than seven or eight. He looked terrified and broken.
My heart started breaking in my chest.
“Jackson. Now,” his father barked.
“I don’t want to.”
His father crossed the room and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him after him. “I don’t give a fuck what you want.” He stopped in the middle of the space and thrust a metal object into his hand. “Now you go inside of there and make him pay.”
Jackson closed his eyes. “Dad, please.”
“I’m doing this for your own good, Jackson.” His father’s tone was clipped and hard. “I don’t create pussies, I create men.” He gave him a hard shove toward a black door that was closed in back of them. “Now get in there and show him what a man you are. Just like I taught you.”
Jackson glanced pleadingly at the person behind the camera.
“Maybe he’s had enough,” said a deep voice that I would recognize as Liam’s anywhere. I could hear his heavy sigh from the other side of the lens, exhausted and defeated.
“Did I give you permission to speak?” Mr. Lucas shoved Jackson to the floor roughly and grabbed the camera from Liam. “In fact, why don’t you join your little brother since you have such a high opinion of when someone’s had or hadn’t had enough?”
A second later Liam’s body was being swung to the ground like a ragdoll. I gasped and jumped at the sound of the heavy door swinging shut behind me, ripping me out of the hell I was witnessing on the screen in front of me. I knew it was Jackson even before I turned around and saw the terrorizing and pain filled look on his face.
“Turn it off,” he growled out at me. “Turn it off!”
I stumbled forward and snapped the tape off but it was too late.
A switch had been turned on in Jackson.
A glaze taken over his eyes as they turned completely black.
And he proceeded to start tearing the place to shreds.
And then everything went red.
*End of part three! CLICK HERE FOR QUIVER BOOK 4! (If your device does not support instant click, type Laura Avery Quiver, 4 into your amazon search bar.)
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